Space Exploration
May 23rd, 2016
It has been an exciting few months for space enthusiasts everywhere.
April 3rd, 2016
In the movie, "The Martian," Matt Damon was a fictional astronaut stranded on Mars. In reality, the head of NASA says astronauts could set foot on the Red Planet within the next twenty years.
"We think we're on the right...
November 22nd, 2015
Our nation has led the world in making the impossible possible. One example is our national space program and by extension, our emerging commercial space industry.
August 30th, 2015
Six people shut themselves inside a dome for a year in Hawaii, in the longest US isolation experiment aimed at helping NASA prepare for a pioneering journey to Mars.
The crew includes a French astrobiologist, a German...
July 14th, 2015
After a decade-long journey through our solar system, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto Tuesday, about 7,750 miles above the surface -- roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India - making it the...
May 22nd, 2015
In my new assignment as Chairman of the CJS Appropriations Subcommittee, I am working to ensure that federal agencies under my jurisdiction uphold the law as written by Congress – not as the President wishes they were...
May 1st, 2015
As House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman, I hosted Apollo astronaut and Kerrville resident Gene Cernan today for a screening of The Last Man on the Moon, a documentary on Cernan’s life.
April 3rd, 2015
I will be hosting a live television downlink with astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) next MONDAY April 6, 2015 at 10:15 AM CT at Smithson Valley High School. I will be joined by former Apollo Astronaut...
March 13th, 2015
I held a hearing with NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden in the Space, Science, and Competitiveness Subcommittee to examine the President's Fiscal Year 2016 Budget request for NASA.
February 10th, 2015
Members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee today announced details of the NASA Authorization Act of 2015, legislation intended to reaffirm
April 22nd, 2016
This week, National Geographic celebrates the Hubble Space Telescope’s 26th birthday with a roundup of its best pictures from the past year, including colorful clouds, gigantic pillars, and glittering galaxies.
November 24th, 2015
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin (R-Texas) today praised a private space company’s successful test of a reusable rocket at a test...
November 17th, 2015
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin (R-Texas), and I praised passage of crucial legislation that provides guidance and certainty for American commercial space partners....
August 8th, 2015
Last week, the Senate unanimously approved S. 1297, the U.S.
May 28th, 2015
The United States Air Force has cleared SpaceX to conduct military space launches. Previously, only United Launch Alliance (ULA) was certified to perform these types of space missions for the military.
May 21st, 2015
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today joined House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in praising passage of H.R. 2262, the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness...
April 17th, 2015
The Obama administration seems to have forgotten NASA’s priorities – and the main one is space exploration.
March 27th, 2015
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is preparing to leave Earth for a very long time -- and to make U.S. spaceflight history. On Friday at 3:42 p.m. ET, Kelly will ride a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station and...
February 26th, 2015
John Culberson Chairs First Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee of 2015
I chaired the first Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee hearing of 2015 yesterday, which included testimony from Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General at the Department of Justice, Todd J....
January 28th, 2015
Today is NASA’s Day of Remembrance, which was set aside following the Columbia disaster to honor the lives of those lost from Apollo 1, Columbia, and Challenger.